


Oil & Water

by Kalloway



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist (Anime 2003)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-07
Updated: 2019-09-07
Packaged: 2020-10-11 16:24:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 521
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20549144
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kalloway/pseuds/Kalloway
Summary: Edward had grown older, but he hadn't necessarily grown up.





	Oil & Water

**Author's Note:**

> "Roy/Ed ficlet, keywords 'uniform, oil, water', from the Totally Promiscuous FMA Pairing Generator."
> 
> an escaped Unhappening?
> 
> December 6, 2005.

Edward had grown older, but he hadn't necessarily grown up, Roy commented to himself as he watched Edward push up his sleeves before reaching across his own desk for a stack of papers.

It was an unconscious maneuver, most of the time, that thing with his sleeves. Roy knew that because sometimes Edward would reach to push his sleeves up even when he didn't have his uniform jacket on. Fuery did it too, with his glasses... He'd push up his glasses even when he had them off, carefully checking out some intricate wiring in some gadget or another. And his hand would pause in midair, just like Ed's would, not finding what it was looking for.

But at the moment, Edward did have his uniform jacket on, the smallest available and still fitting much too loosely. Roy had told Ed enough times that transmuting a slightly better fit was perfectly okay.

Ed had gone on a rampage about being called short.

Roy had decided to accept things as they were and contented himself to watching Edward sift through the report he was finishing, in-depth research on something new...

The problem, Roy knew, was that Edward had already conquered one of the greatest mysteries of alchemy and survived. So there really wasn't much that could hold Ed's interest for very long.

But this time, Edward was so wrapped up in looking for some notation or another that he hadn't noticed Roy stopping to watch him and certainly hadn't noticed that Roy was keeping count of times that Edward had pushed up his sleeves.

With a defeated sigh, Edward flopped back in the chair, looking up at the ceiling for a moment before darting his eyes over to Roy.

"You're watching me," Edward accused, getting to his feet and unbuttoning his jacket, taking it off quickly and tossing it over the back of the chair.

"I am," Roy admitted. No way out of that, after all.

"Which means that you're slacking off," Edward continued, stretching before walking around all of their desks, tinkering with Falman's magnetic statue toy for a moment before stalking over to Roy's desk and perching on the edge.

"What are you doing?" Roy asked, watching as Edward reached all the way across his desk, back-length hair trailing over his shoulders and swishing against his own paperwork, to reach a little toy that he'd gotten from Sheska. Probably the only thing she'd ever purchased that wasn't clothing, food or a book.

Ed grabbed it, setting it upside down from how it was, letting oil and water fight their way through blown glass, colors spinning together before separating again. Roy had always thought of it as Sheska admitting that she knew more secrets than she should, but Roy never brought it up. He didn't need to.

"I'm slacking off too," Ed said, grinning like he always had. "After all, I believe there's an excellent saying about leading by example..."

Roy frowned, looking at Edward still stretched across his desk and then to the tangle of oil and water, churning together only to settle apart. But still, there was always a moment...


End file.
